Song wins case but still has to pay

Gugak, or Korean traditional music, singer Song So-hee won her legal battle over her exclusive contract with her former agency, but must still pay them 139 million won ($117,000), a court ruled Tuesday.

Song signed an exclusive contract with her former agency in July 2013 to last for seven years until July 2020, during which she agreed to split her income fifty-fifty with the agency.

Yet when she found out that the younger brother of the head of the agency had drugged and raped a female singer in October 2013, Song asked for her contract to be nullified and demanded that the brother be removed as her manager.

When the agency refused to do so, Song’s father founded his own agency named SH Foundation and Song joined it in February 2014. SH Foundation sent files to formerly have Song’s contract nullified.

Yet, the head of Song’s former agency sued Song, saying, “According to the exclusivity contract, she was supposed to split her income but we were not paid after August 2013,” demanding 520 million won in back payment.

The ruling on Tuesday agreed that Song justly terminated her contract considering the circumstances, but also said that she does need to pay the agency for events she participated in between July 2013 and June 2014.

The court ruled that Song’s contract with her former agency officially ended in June 2014.

By Yoon So-yeon